Written by Nescio (Latin for "I don't know"), a pseudonym for J.H.F. Gronloh, these stories poetically capture the atmosphere of Amsterdam and the Dutch countryside and the passion of bookish youth for overturning the world order. Into what? That is as hazy as fog on a canal or a snow-blind horizon, but the impulse is genuine and the characters are endearing, especially "the sponger" of one of the stories, who "thought it was fine just to let the wind blow through his hair, let the cold, wet wind soak his clothes and his body, who ran his tongue over his lips because the taste of the ocean was so 'goddamn delicious,' who sniffed his hands at night to smell the sea."
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